Grand Rapids — Video released Wednesday showed a Grand Rapids police officer shot a man while he was on top of him during a struggle in which the man appeared to try to gain control of the officer’s stun gun.
Patrick Lyoya, 26, was fatally shot on April 4 after police said he fought during a traffic stop related to a license plate registration issue, officials said. The incident occurred at 8:11 a.m. near the intersection of Griggs and Nelson. Lyoya was driving the vehicle and had a male passenger in the car.
In the roughly 20-minutes of footage released by Grand Rapids police during a press conference Wednesday, Lyoya can be seen exiting the vehicle in a green sweater before the officer approaches. The officer instructs him to get back into the car, asks for his license and if he speaks English, to which Lyoya replies yes.
The family’s native language is Swahili, said Israel Siku, an interpreter for the family.
The officer tells Lyoya that the car isn’t registered, but Lyoya appeared confused and dismissive. The officer asks for his driver’s license.
Lyoya tells the officer his license is in the car, he stands at the vehicle with the door open for nearly 30 seconds before closing the door. The officer shouts, “nope, nope” and tried to get Lyoya on the hood of the car Lyoya was driving. That’s when a struggle began and Lyoya breaks free and runs around the car and into a nearby yard.
The officer called for backup stating, “the individual is running,” and a struggle began again in the front yard of a home adjacent to where Lyoya stopped the car.
The officer drew a stun gun and Lyoya and the officer struggled over it for about 90 seconds, Grand Rapids police Chief Eric Winstrom said. The officer fired the stun gun twice, and Winstrom said both times it was fired into the ground.
At one point, Lyoya pushes the officer’s stun gun toward the ground. The officer’s body-worn camera was then deactivated because it was held down for three seconds, Winstrom said.
“What we’ve seen in examining the information is that it was hit many times during that struggle,” Winstrom said. “That was the first moment that it was held down for more than three seconds and was deactivated,” he said.
Michigan State Police obtained video from a home surveillance system of the incident.
“Let go of the Taser,” the officer shouted to Lyoya before firing the fatal shot and calling for backup.
Lyoya was fatally shot in the head, Winstrom said. The shot was fired while Lyoya was facing the ground with the officer on his back, the video showed.
Backup arrived at the scene three minutes after the officer shot Lyoya. There was no weapon recovered from Lyoya, Winstrom said, but he acknowledged he isn’t aware of all the evidence.
The passenger exited the vehicle during the struggle, recording with a cell phone, and told the officer before Lyoya was fatally shot, “You hit him, too.”
The officer stood up after Lyoya was shot, and
ordered the passenger to “get back” and walk back towards the officer’s vehicle.
The officer, whose name has not been released, was a couple of hours into his day shift when the incident happened, Winstrom said. He is on paid leave, stripped of his powers pending the outcome of the Michigan State Police investigation. The officer joined the department in 2015, the city said.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker previously requested that police not release any evidence until the investigation is complete. However, Lyoya’s family, a Kent County commissioner and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan have spent the last week calling for the release of video. Lyoya’s family and Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack have described the shooting as an “execution.”
Womack on Wednesday called for the officer’s name to be released and said the incident was “was escalated by police.” He called on protesters to avoid violence.
“We cannot talk about change without being the change we want to see,” Womack said Wednesday.
Attorney Ben Crump, who led George Floyd’s family’s legal team, traveled to Grand Rapids to represent the family.
After the video was released, Crump Tweeted “We DEMAND that the officer who killed Patrick not only be terminated for his excessive and fatal force, but be arrested and prosecuted for his violent, reckless, and unjustified killing of this Black man during a misdemeanor traffic stop!”
The Lyoya family declined to comment, through their family spokesman, and said they needed to speak with Crump and plan to hold a press conference Thursday.
The Lyoya family emigrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014. The family lives in Lansing; Patrick Lyoya lived in Grand Rapids.
At the city hall press conference Wednesday, Winstrom presented videos taken from the body-worn camera, in-car camera, a cell phone and a home surveillance system.
“You’re trying to place him in custody. That’s it,” Winstrom said about the altercation. “The follow-up question will be was the use of force and policy — and I’m not going to comment on that — but the test (for that policy) is going to be whether in the view of a reasonable police officer, whether that deadly force was needed to prevent death or great bodily harm to that police officer?”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vowed Wednesday afternoon that the Michigan State Police will conduct a “transparent, independent investigation” into the incident.
“Patrick’s father asked me to convey his hope that any demonstrations in his son’s honor remain peaceful, and as Governor, I share this view,” Whitmer said in a statement. “We must come together and build a future where Black Michiganders are afforded equal rights, dignity, and safety in our communities.”
Medical examiner will not release autopsy
Kent County Chief Medical Examiner Stephen Cohle completed an autopsy of Lyoya’s body with a state police officer present, which is standard policy, he said in a statement Wednesday.
The autopsy report will not be released until MSP concludes its investigation and they are awaiting a toxicology and tissue test, which could take up to 60 days; however, they have asked these results be expedited, Cohle wrote.
The Lyoya family is not permitted to view the body at their facility, Cohle said, “as we are not equipped to provide the privacy family members need in these circumstances… and the viewing is postponed until his body can be transferred to a funeral home.” The family was given permission on April 5 to transfer the body to a funeral home of their choosing, he said.
Cohle said his office will work with any board-certified forensic pathologist, should the Lyoya family seek an independent autopsy or assist them.
“We strive to ensure every family is treated with dignity and respect and is supported with compassion and honest information to help them make appropriate arrangements,” Cohle concluded. “I have personally spoken with Mr. Lyoya’s father (via interpreter), and my office stands ready to assist him with the release of his son’s body when the family has reached a decision on the arrangements.”
The family’s native language is Swahili.
Calls for ‘peaceful protests’
Barricades were placed in front of the Grand Rapids Police Department Tuesday ahead of a planned march in support of Lyoya.
City Manager Mark Washington said more demonstrations are planned for the downtown area over the next several days into the weekend and that he supports residents exercising First Amendment rights.
His staff is coordinating with organizers to ensure they have a safe environment; however, because the focus of the protest is on the police department, they have taken precautionary measures to ensure “continued access and uninterrupted operations,” he said.
“This not only secures the facility but ensures we’re able to provide public-safety continuity of service for the entire community,” Washington said in a statement to The News Wednesday ahead of the video’s release. “I understand these precautions may be alarming to some, I can assure you that we have no current indication of an imminent threat.”
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srahal@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @SarahRahal_